Air-brake.



' PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

J. B WRIGHT.

AIR BRAKE.

APPLIOATION FILED OUT. 9. 1907.

a pains-51mm 1.

7 PATENTED MAY 26, 1908.

J; B. WRIGHT. AIR BRAKE. APPLICATION FILED 00T.9, 1907.

2 SHEETBSHEET .2.

oooooooooooo ooo 0 ooooooooooooooooo 00 JOHN BUNYAN WRIGHT, OF GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA.

AIR-BRAKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed October 9, 1907. Serial No. 396,653.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that, 1, JOHN B. WRIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greensboro, in the county of Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Air-Brake, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus of that class employed for automatically operating,

the brakes of a railway train 111 case of derailment or in the event of movement of the truck or trucks to abnormal position with respect to the body of the car.

1n devices of this general class as hitherto constructed, it has been usual to employ a valve so connected to the train pipe as to be opened for the purpose of reducing the train pipe pressure and thus applying the brakes-. The valve actuating mechanism has been arranged adjacent to the truck ortrucks, the truck usually carrying a cam bar that fits within a link supported from the body of the car, and these two members'coming 1nto engagement with each other for the purpose of transmitting opening movement to the valve.

The principal object of the present invention is to improve and simplify the construction of the valve actuating mechanism arranged adjacent to the truck.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for adjusting the mechanism in accordancewith the condition of the car, so that as the parts of the truck and car become loose from constant wear the operative limit of movement of the safety mechanism may be increased to meet thenew conditions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a truck carried cam bar, of which may be increasedor diminished to suit the condition or type of car to which it is applied.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear,the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly ointed out in theappended claims, it being.

understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a valve actuating is a seat for a valve the width mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention, the view being transversely of the car. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a portion of a car illustrating the application of the invention thereto.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the adjustablecam bar looking from the side opposite that shown in Fig 1. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cam bar. Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view of the train pipe opening valve.

' Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawlngs.

The valve casing 10 is carried by a bracket or hanger 11 arranged to be bolted or otherwise secured to the under side of the car platform, to the sill, or any other position most suitable to the type of. car on which it is to be employed. At one end of the valve casing is an air chamber 12 that is coupled in the train pipe or, the train pipe being cut at any suitable point in the length of the car, and the casing connected therein.

1n the casing is a valve seat plug 20 having a passage 21 at the inner end of which 22 carried'by a stem 23. At the opposite end of the stem is a disk 24 normally pressed outward by a compression spring 25 seated in a recess in the outer portion of the plug 20. Thepassage 21 communicates with a chamber 28 from wlhich lead ports 29 to the periphery of the P opposite the chamber 28 is provided with an annular recess 30 from which lead discharge ports 32 to the outer air, so that in case the valve is open the air may pass from the train pipe quickly and to an extent sufficient to result in an emergency application of the brakes.

Atthe outer end of the casing 10 are two diametrically opposed openings in which are fitted bushings 37 for the reception of rock shafts 38 that extend to the actuating mechanism of the truck. independent of each other and to the head of each is secured a double operating cam 39. Should either cam be turned in either direction, it will engage the disk 28 and force the valve to open position.

To the under side of the car body at a point adjacent each of the trucks. is secured a casing 50 that is provided with a cylinand that portion of the valve caslng These shafts are wholly openings are arranged for drical bore for the reception of a vertically movable cylindrical stem 51, and to the lower end of this stem is secured a link 52. Each link is approximately fusiform in contour, tapering slightly toward each end, and the weight of the stem and link is carried by a helical tension spring 53 that extends between two pins 54 carried one by the casing and the other by the stem 51.

One side of the casing is enlarged and is provided with a vertical recess 55 open ing into the bore of the casing, and through the walls of the recess extends a cylindrical opening arranged to form a bearing for the reception of one end of the rock shaft 38, and thisshaft may be formed of a single member extending from the truck to the valve casing, or it may be formed of a number of sections, especially when it must follow other than a straight line.

Secured to the rock shaft at a point within the recess 55 is a rocker arm 56 having a rounded outer end that iits within a recess 57 in the upper portion of the stem 51. The parts are so adjusted that under normal conditions the weight of the stem and link will not be imposed on the rocker arm 56, while at the same time the flat sides of the rocker arm engaging the vertical walls of the recess 57- will serve to prevent any rotative movement of the stem and link. Should the link receive movement in a vertical direction, the arm 56 will be rocked, and the movement will be transmitted through the shaft 38 to one or other of the cams 39.

Projecting from any suitable portion of the truck, as, for instance, from the bolster or one of the transoms, are two horizontally disposed brackets 60 to which are secured two cam plates 61 that are rigidly secrned together by a horizontal bar 62. The bar and plates are fastened to each other by rivets or bolts 63 and one of these forms a support for a revolubly adjustable The two disks carry crank pins 65 which are connected by parallel bars 66, and the distance between the two bars may be increased or diminished by turning the disks with the rivets or bolts 63 as centers.

Each disk and each cam plate 61 is provided with an arcuate row of openings 68, all of these openings being equi-distant from the center of movement of the disk. These the passage of a securing bolt 69, held in place by a nut 70. When it is desired to adjust the distance between the bars 66 the bolts are removed and the disks are turned to the desired extent, after which the bolts are inserted through the newly alined openings in the disks and plates and the parts are secured in position. This structure as a whole constitutes an operating cam that coacts with the link 52 to operate the valve. The cam bar is supportdisk 64. j

ed by the truck while the link is carried by the body of the car and should there be any abnormal movement of either member with respect to the other, the bar and link will be brought into engagement and the link will be moved vertically, such movement being transmitted in the manner previously described for the purpose of effecting opening movement of the valve.

By the employment of a cam bar of variable width, the apparatus may be adjusted or use in connection with cars of gradually increasing age. In a new car the parts are more or less stiff and close fitting, and the cam bar may, therefore, be adjusted to its fullest width, so that comparatively slight movement of the truck relative to the car body will operate the safety device. As the car is used, the various working parts become worn and there is more or less loose movement which would tend to actuate the safety device even where there is no actual danger. The cam bar may then be adjusted for the purpose of reducing its width to compensate for the increase in freedom of movement of the parts. As the car becomes older, the width of the bar is gradually reduced in order to allow maximum free movement without danger of operating the safety levice.

I claim 2- 1. In apparatus of the class described, a link carried by the car, a cam bar carried by r the truck, and means for adjusting the width of said cam bar.

2. In apparatus of the class link carried by the car, and a cam bar carried by the truck, the cam bar being formed of relatively adjustable sections.

3. In combination, a truck member, a car body member, a link carried by one of said members, and an adjustable cam bar carried by the other member.

4. In apparatus of the class described, a link, a fixed bar having cam plates at each end, a pair of disks pivotally mounted on the cam plates, parallel bars carried by said disks, and means for locking the disks in adjusted position.

5. In combination, a link, a rigid bar having cam plates at its opposite ends, a pair of disks pivotally mounted on said cam plates, a pair of links connecting the disks, the disk and cam plates having a plurality of openings,- and disk locking bolts arranged to extend through said openings.

6. In apparatus of the class described, a casing, a vertically movable stem arranged described, a

therein, a link carried by the stem, a cam bar ed in the bore and provided with a recess, a

car carried casing havlng a vertical bore, and a recess opening into the bore, a stern mounttrain pipe opening valve under the control of 10 the rock shaft.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN BUNYAN WRIGHT.

rock shaft extending through the casing, a t rocker arm carried by the shaft and extending into the recess of the stern, a link carried by the stern, a spring for supporting thel Witnesses: weight of the stern and link, a truck carried J AS. M. WALKER,

H. B. STRAIT.

cam bar extending through the link, and a 

